Effects of plant cultivars on the structure of bacterial and fungal communities associated with ginseng

Aims There is an increasing awareness of the importance of root-associated bacteria and fungi to plant growth. At present, little is known about whether different ginseng cultivars affect the soil rhizosphere microbial community. Here, we examined the changes in the microorganismal diversity and composition of the rhizospheres of different ginseng cultivars. Methods The rhizosphere soil of four ginseng cultivars, namely CBGL (GAOLI ginseng), JYSH (COMMON ginseng) and SZSZ (SHIZHU ginseng) and TSBT (BIANTIAO ginseng) were obtained. The 16S rRNA genes and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions from the total ginseng rhizosphere microorganism community were analyzed to investigate the diversity and structure of the bacterial and fungal communities of the different ginseng cultivars. Results We found that fungal communities were more influenced by the cultivars than bacterial communities, and we revealed differences in the microbial community composition and diversity among the different ginseng cultivars. We found that fungal diversity was negatively correlated with bacterial diversity in CBGL, JYSH and SZSZ, but, TSBT had the lowest bacterial and fungal diversity, which may be related to the agricultural management for BIANTIAO ginseng. We also discovered certain rhizosphere microorganisms that may be associated with pathogenicity and the long survival time of ginseng cultivars, including Bacillus, Alternaria alternata and Cladosporium sp. agrAR069. Conclusion We conclude that the microbial diversity and community structures under different ginseng cultivars are significantly different and are related to the host cultivar. This result provides information that can be used for the breeding of Panax ginseng.